How Did The Beatles Change America

The Beatles are one of the most innovative rock bands of all time. They have not only changed the way rock and roll is looked at, but also the way that the music is recorded. They have influenced the artists of the 60s and the 70s, and also many generations later and to come. Originating from Liverpool, England, the Beatles, or the Fab Four, consists of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Topping the charts in ’63 with “Love Me Do,” and bringing in the highest rated viewing in history while performing on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Beatles are definitely a band that broke the sound barrier of rock

Following an era of economical prosperity, the Great Depression, otherwise known as the ugliest sister of the 1900’s family, which lasted an entire decade from 1929 to 1939, began on a fateful day with the New York Stock Exchange abruptly crashed and was unable to recover quickly. This occurrence, of course, had an unforgivable effect on the economy, leading to one of the most memorable and significant eras in American history. Not only affecting the economy domestically, internationally trading was burdened by the limp leg that was the United States. Socially, people were struggling to regain their balance after a main income source –agriculture- was swept away by the Dust Bowl, only worsening the drawn out effects of the initial Wall Street crash. Politically, the US faced severe turmoil with presidency of Herbert Hoover due to a lack of action to prevent economic decay and promote domestic and foreign recovery. Needless to say, after one presidential term, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected into office and soon passed the New Deal, a highlight in his presidential career. However, due to the previous president, there were several critics about the nature and efficacy of such a policy. The Great Depression was a time of discussion and criticism of political policy and the nature and efficacy of said policy in dominating the backfire of grand economical proportions within the United States alone.

“You say you want a revolution. Well you know, we all want to change the world”. Those lyrics from the Beatles song Revolution were considered subversive to Soviet youth by the Communist leaders. In fact until the late 1980’s, Beatle music was banned or very difficult to obtain in Russia.(Woodhead) Their music was smuggled into the country. If a person was caught, he would be punished by the KGB. Yet, despite the efforts of the authorities, the youth of Russia managed to listen to the music. They knew the Beatles names, their hair styles and their music. The Beatles were a major factor in bringing down the Soviet Union by changing the mindset of Soviet youth.

“The rise of rock ‘n’ roll and the reception of it, in fact, can tell us a lot about the culture and values of the United States in the 1950s. According to historians James Gilbert, there was a struggle throughout the decade ‘over the uses of popular culture to determine who would speak to what audience, and for what purpose”. At the center of that struggle, rock ‘n’ roll unsettled a nation had been “living in an ‘age of anxiety’” since 1945” (p.15). Altschuler talks about how music and race interlock with one another. Rock had become a “highly visible and contested arena for struggles over racial identity and cultural and economic empowerment in the United States” (p.35). Other chapters within the book state the battles involving sexuality, generational conflicts, as well as other social issues. The author states ideas that are somewhat problematic. For example, he states that there is a myth that rock ‘n’ roll went into a “lull” following the payola hearings (the practice of record promoters paying DJs or radio programmers to play their labels ' songs) of 1959 and did not come about again until the arrival of the Beatles in 1964.

The Beatles were more than their music. They influenced the lives of millions of people unlike any musicians before them. They were the first and most popular band in one of the most important music movements in American history, the British Invasion. The year 1964 was the year both the British Invasion and “Beatlemania” came to America and forever changed the landscape of music in the United States by introducing the genre of pop, as it is today. The Beatles changed the rules of music. Many things that are considered normal now were pioneered by the Beatles such as: creating compilation albums, expressing their views on world happenings through the media, musicians in movies, and even mass media advertising. The beatles

The Beatles were one of the most influential music groups of the rock era. They were able to conquer and influence pop culture with their music. Initially they affected the post-war baby boom generation of Britain and the W.S. during the 1960s, and later the request of the world. Certainly they were the most successful group, with global sales exceeding 1.3 billion albums. During the sixties, The Beatles using revolutionary ideas in their music inspired a generation of young adults across the globe to look at life from their perspective.

There have been many people, known as artists, who have tried to change the world through their art. “Art” can be paintings, music, dances, sculptures, literature, or photography. There are many ways to communicate and express ones feelings but The Beatles did it through their popular music. Although they didn’t focus on changing the world of politics or try to protest through their music they have songs that focus on those exact two things.

From that point on, the Beatles were the North Star for me and my generation" (McGarvey, 2014). The early 60s belonged to The Beatles, there is no denying that, everything from social subjects you would talk about with your friends, all the way to fashion and merchandise. Their arrival opened the doors for more British bands to make it big in America, and steal the attention of every boy and girl who listened to the radio.

The Beatles started as an English skiffle group in the late 1950s. By the time they reached their peak popularity, the term “Beatlemania” was coined to explain the frenzied obsession with the group. A former associate editor from Rolling Stone drew a comparison between the Beatles and Picasso, calling them “artists that broke through their time period to come up with something that was unique and original.” Throughout their discography, the Beatles have time and time again released music that both broke musical trends and engrossed the masses. They have held an “unprecedented top five spots on the

Hayden Hall MUH2019 9/5/14 The Beatles and The British Invasion The only successful invasion to happen on America’s soil was the British Invasion of the early 1960’s, and thankfully it was a beneficial one to the United States at that. The tide of new music that was the British Invasion housed one of the music industry’s most influential groups, which was The Beatles. They established themselves in Liverpool, United Kingdom in 1960 and started out doing covers of songs, some of these being American songs, but their real success began when they started writing their own music. The British Invasion included several other influential bands such as The Who, the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clarke Five, the Hollies and much more but the Beatles were undisputedly the most influential band of these music groups. The United States was so receptive of the Beatles and this British Invasion for a multitude of social reasons, and this reception led to the birth of a

In the 1960’s British artists took their modified edition of rock and roll, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and shared it with America. This concept would end up being acknowledged as the British Invasion. The British Invasion is the movement where bands from the United Kingdom became popular in the United States. It involved the virtual control of AM radio and the record industry in the United States by British artists, particularly the groups who had confirmed to be experts at recycling the American rhythm and blues and rockabilly songs of the 1950’s (Burns 2004). This movement is described as one of the most fascinating aspects of rock revolution that stimulated young American audiences by a second-hand version of American music traditions and filtered through British sensibilities (Winkler 1988). Due to The Beatles’ heavy influence on American music culture, it is still debated whether or not they were the greatest band of all time. There are many theories as to why America supported and embraced The Beatles’ success. The focal point shifted from the aftershock of John F. Kennedy’s death towards The Beatles and their rising popularity. This phenomenon changed the idea of rock and roll, as well as other

As someone who grew up in Europe and came to America with my family in 2004, my introduction to new American popular music was not as organic as it was to actual Americans. What I was exposed to came from movies and TV shows that made their way over and eventually what I was able to gather as the Internet became more widespread. My parents were introduced in the same way, mostly by TV and movies but the chronology was often confusing. There was no sense that the Beatles came after Elvis and what events these songs could be linked to. They simply existed as fun

One of the most influential groups of the 20th Century—the Beatles revolutionized rock and roll into what we know it as today. Not only were they great musicians, they wrote and composed each of their songs. The band proved to be popular and exciting causing mass hysteria at each of their public performances. The “Fab Four’s” talent was so great that the phenomenon was termed “Beatlemania” in Britain and eventually erupted in the United States being called the British Invasion of the Beatles (Britannica Online, 2005).

     From the sounds of Elvis many other important bands of the sixties were inspired, even people a thousand miles away from America. One of these important bands was the Beatles. The Beatles took the rock sound and added more lyrical and musical complexity to the sound. The Beatles were the starters of the “British Invasion” in 1963 when they released “I want to Hold Your Hand” (Kallen, 2012, 31). After their first single they had immense success with other hits such as “She Loves You” and “Woooo!” The Beatles continued to reinvent their music on the various other albums throughout the sixties delving into complex, heavy existential concepts and psychedelic elements, becoming the most relevant influence for modern rock.

Everyone, Americans and Europeans alike, have heard-of, if not grown off of, a generation and culture started by an ensemble of four shaggy-haired Liverpool musicians that the world went mad over; no one can deny that no greater event impacted today's pop culture than "Beatlemania". But not everyone has heard the story behind the Beatles, who were they? How did they become the band and how did they make it big? What's the story of their struggle?